Survey Reveals Combating Anti-Money Laundering & Fraud Dominate Financial Institutions Top Priorities

August 31st, 2009 LONDON - Bankers Almanac, the leading provider of reference data for payments, due diligence and risk assessment today announced that its Due Diligence (www.bankersalmanac.com/addcon/products/due-diligence-repository.aspx) Repository now contains over 100,000 documents. The Due Diligence Repository was developed by Bankersalmanac.com in association with the Wolfsberg Group (www.wolfsberg-principles.com) following publication of its "Principles for Correspondent Banking".

August 17th, 2009 LONDON - Bankers Almanac, the leading provider of reference data for payments, due diligence and risk assessment today announced that its Due Diligence Repository (www.bankersalmanac.com/addcon/products/due-diligence-repository.aspx) now has online document verification. The new "Manage My Documents" feature allows providers of the documents to review, confirm or supply replacements online into the Due Diligence Repository.

July 6th, 2009 STUTTGART, Germany - - All-in-one Solution for Combating Financial Crime - Focuses on an All-Round, Risk-Based Approach - SMARAGD MDS Monitoring & Detection System Supersedes S/Research With its new SMARAGD Anti-Finance Crime Suite, Cellent Finance Solutions AG has bundled the solutions from the SMARAGD range into an integrated, all-in-one package for combating financial crime. This new development was realized in line with international standards and European legislation based on an holistic, risk-based approach.

June 29th, 2009 TOKYO - Fortent, a provider of risk and compliance technology and information, today announced that Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (President: Kinya Okauchi), a major wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (President & CEO: Nobuo Kuroyanagi), has selected the Fortent Anti-Money Laundering software for the firm's Japanese domestic operations.

June 1st, 2009 LONDON - Over Two Thirds (68%) of Retailers Admit Payment Fraud Remains the Most Daunting Element of Running an Online Business - 60% of Online Retailers do Not Know if They are Currently PCI DSS Compliant - Three Quarters (75%) of Respondents Intend to Invest in Their Online Business Throughout 2009 Whilst 75% of online retailers will invest to grow their businesses this year, over two thirds still feel threatened by payment fraud, a survey from Sage Pay has shown. This, together with an increasing trend in consumer fraud concerns, will have a defining impact on the future of online retail in the UK.

May 31st, 2009 LAGOS, Nigeria - The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) recently announced the formation of the ACAMS Nigeria Chapter. Made up of members from Nigeria and throughout West Africa, the chapter provides a forum for the professional development and networking of its members who come from a wide range of industry areas involved in the anti-money laundering counter-terrorism financing field.

May 25th, 2009 LUXEMBOURG - MACH, the leading provider of solutions to simplify and accelerate the creation and operation of the mobility supply chain, warned today that it expects roaming fraud to cost mobile operators $5 billion globally in 2009 as many operators around the world have yet to comply with NRTRDE recommendations. Consequently, fraud will shift to those who are less well protected.

May 17th, 2009 NEW YORK - Fortent Connect is First Complete System for Anti-Money Laundering, Fraud, Customer Due Diligence, and Reporting Fortent (www.fortent.com) today announced the introduction of Fortent Connect, a solution designed to help mid-sized financial institutions fight crime and manage regulatory compliance. Fortent Connect is easy to use and implement, and delivers high performance at a competitive price.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Moneybookers, one of Europe's leading online payment systems, today announces the appointment of Tero Pollanen as Head of Anti-Fraud. His appointment is one of a series of new hirings that has seen Moneybookers' headcount double since the beginning of 2008.

March 24th, 2009 LONDON - Free Two Week Diet Plan With Food Costing Around GBP2 per day New research from tescodiets.com reveals that nearly 50% of consumers think joining a slimming club means they will have to spend more on their weekly shop, whilst over a third think they would also have to buy foods they wouldn't normally purchase. Despite this, the survey reveals that nearly 60% would still consider joining a slimming club to lose weight, so tescodiets.com has launched a free credit crunch diet plan for people looking for a no frills weight loss plan on which they could lose up to 6lbs in two weeks.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With slush funds being increasingly used for financing terrorism, Indian financial institutions are planning to increase investment in their anti-money laundering systems, a survey by global auditing company KPMG has found. In a statement Thursday, KPMG said 76 percent of respondents to its survey of domestic financial institutions said their investments on anti-money laundering compliance would increase over the next three years.

August 3rd, 2009 Israel police bust fraud ring with alleged US tiesJERUSALEM — Israeli police said Monday that they had broken up an Israeli-American crime ring specializing in tax fraud and money laundering in an operation codenamed "American Pie." Police said a joint investigation with U.S. authorities led to the arrest in Israel of seven suspects, some of them American citizens, with further arrests likely.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will launch a donor-supported trust fund to finance technical assistance in Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). The Multi-Donor Trust Fund - the first in a series of so-called Topical Trust Funds -will start operations on May 1 and provide about US$31 million over five years to contribute to the strengthening of global AML/CFT regimes, using the Fund's proven expertise and infrastructure, the Fund announced Wednesday.

September 6th, 2009 LONDON - In order to prevent money laundering and terror financing, G20 countries have decided to take counter measures against non-cooperative tax heavens from March 2010. Following up on the decisions taken at the summit in April, the meeting of G20 finance ministers, including India, finalized the steps that could enable governments to extract information from such tax havens.

August 29th, 2009 LONDON - British women are more likely go for extra cash rather than red-hot bedroom sessions, reveals a new survey. The shocking findings come from a survey commissioned by web firm AOL.

August 13th, 2009 Clarification: Mortgage fraud storyLOS ANGELES — In the first paragraph of an Aug. 10 story about a mortgage fraud trial, The Associated Press reported that real estate agent Joseph Babajian was acquitted in the scheme, while two others were found guilty.

April 21st, 2009 MOSCOW - Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev denied all the charges against them in a trial in Moscow Tuesday. 'No, I do not admit my guilt,' Khodorkovsky said.

September 30th, 2009 Le-Nature's former CEO charged in $806M fraudPITTSBURGH — The former chief executive and four other employees of defunct soft-drink maker Le-Nature's Inc. have been indicted in what authorities say is an $806 million fraud.

April 23rd, 2009 Lawmakers want banks to report on bailout useWASHINGTON — Lawmakers pressed the Obama administration on Thursday to better track how financial institutions are using the government's financial bailout money, a step the Treasury Department has resisted despite demands from a federal watchdog agency. "On a basic level, it's absolutely critical that we know where the money has gone and how it's been used," said Rep.

May 5th, 2009 Watchdogs: Failed-bank reviews stop some auditsWASHINGTON — U.S. efforts to trace terrorist financing and money laundering are receiving less scrutiny by government watchdog offices because of the unprecedented need to monitor failed financial institutions, the Treasury Department's inspector general said Tuesday.